Being home for the past few
days definitely feels weird. I miss waking up to house filled with 9 other
people. I miss staying up all night with Daniella and just talking about how
the day went. I miss rushing to the shower early in the morning to make sure I
would get hot water. I miss seeing my Christel House learners and teachers.
However, it's good to be home so I can share my experiences with my friends and
family. I’ve looked through all my photos everyday so far and I try to recall
that specific moment; it always brings a smile to my face. I honestly never
thought going to SA for a month would make such a big impact on me. Now all I
ever do is compare the U.S. and South Africa to each other. I compare the way
people speak to each other, the food, the money, the pace in which we live in,
and the environment. They're all so different and quite frankly I wouldn’t mind
living in SA because even though I lived in Cape Town for only a month it truly
showed me that having the most resources/materials isn't what will make you
happy. Instead, the relationships you have and make will be what determines your
happiness and success. I am so grateful for all the wonderful people I met
while I was there.
One incident that happened
after I arrived back to the states at JFK that really made me realize how
different the culture is in the U.S. was when we were in line after getting off
the plane and we were handing in our “declaration of citizenship paper” to one
of the JFK employees and I noticed he was being extremely nasty to people. I
was thrown off at first and thought how unhappy this man must be, and then I
remembered how fast paced Americans tend to live. I was next in line but I saw
a woman in a wheel chair so I decided to let her go in front of me, so as he called
“next!” he looked at me and said "hello wake up!" So I smiled and
stood there as I let the woman in the wheel chair go before me. He attended her
then I went next. He looked at the paper I filled out and said “you did this
wrong you need to put SA in front of the flight number” he continued to shake
his head as he scolded me. I didn't say a word to him instead I continued to
smile and he said, “Goodbye you can
leave now." So I replied, "have a nice day" and walked away. I
was so confused because his tone of voice and attitude was so rude and this was
just 30 minutes of being back home. I thought to myself how is it that I stayed
in Cape Town for 4 weeks and not once did I encounter a rude person. This was
definitely an interesting way of being greeted back to the states!
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